Indonesia has conditionally lifted its ban on the AI chatbot Grok, developed by xAI and led by CEO Elon Musk. This decision follows suit by neighboring countries, such as Malaysia and the Philippines, making similar decisions. They started raising their bans on January 23rd. The chatbot unfolded under a microscope. It indeed faced strong criticism after being blamed for generating at least 1.8 million sexualized images of women in late December and January.
At first, the Southeast Asian countries prohibited Grok. They made this move in response to their growing reports of nonconsensual, sexualized imagery circulating on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. In reaction to the backlash that developed, xAI walled off Grok’s AI image creation feature exclusively to paying X subscribers. This implementation will deter misuse but retain regular users’ full access to the chatbot’s powerful toolset.
In June, that plan was confirmed by Alexander Sabar, director general of digital space monitoring at Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, who declared the ban conditional. It will still be in effect under certain conditions. He made the point that it could be returned if “more violations are found.”
This lawsuit against xAI marks the cali AG Rob Bonta’s most vigorous hand — yet — against so-called xAI. He has opened an investigation into the firm and sent a cease-and-desist letter, requiring that it cease producing illegal content at once. Bonta’s office is closely monitoring the situation.
Elon Musk has defended Grok, asserting that anyone using the chatbot to create illegal content “will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.” Furthermore, Musk claimed he is “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok,” attempting to distance himself and his company from the controversy.
It sounds like xAI is facing some real challenges. In the meantime, the company is said to be negotiating merger terms with Elon Musk’s other properties, SpaceX and Tesla, ahead of an anticipated SpaceX IPO. As noted above, this merger has the potential to shift the entire tech move and more greatly connect Musk’s many ventures.
Despite all the controversies that Grok has been embroiled in, Musk has repeatedly tweeted that the chatbot is safe and super useful. Even under this kind of scrutiny ahead of its launch, his confidence in Grok hasn’t wavered. Recent communications released by the Justice Department disclosed that Musk had communicated with Jeffrey Epstein in 2012 and 2013. The hundreds of documents released also expose Musk’s alleged efforts to vacation on Epstein’s Caribbean island. He further asked what is the “craziest rager on your island.”